Thought for the Day
Never test the depth of the water with both feet
Cockles of the heart warmed all round
It was emphatically not the most dramatic Open Championship ever – once Dustin Johnson knocked it OB at Suez the destiny of the claret jug was pretty much sealed – but by heaven it was one of the most emotional. And in retrospect, having had a few hours to come to terms with the unlikely enormity of Darren Clarke’s achievement, probably the most surprising element of all was his serenity over those final two superb rounds of golf. And serenity really does seem to be the only appropriate word. It seems fitting, perhaps, that in a week when we both celebrated and mourned Seve Ballesteros, the man who believed absolutely in ‘Il Destino’ when it came to winning The Open, that an overweight, ageing champion with a history of both triumph and tragedy was seemingly destined to capture his own slice of golfing immortality in the 140th playing of the event.
Once again we have witnessed sport’s endless capacity to produce the most emotional if improbable stories, and the one with the greatest resonance is that of the old prize-fighter who comes off the ropes when he should be going down for the final count, to take his greatest victory. And without wanting to suggest that Darren is a washed-up has-been, even his most ardent supporters cannot have rated his chances last Thursday morning – the bookies certainly didn’t, having put him at odds of 150-1.
There are also, of course, many other improbabilities surrounding Darren’s win, not least of which is that he is now the third golfer from Northern Ireland to win one of the last six majors, which is about as likely as three football teams from Birmingham taking three of the last half dozen premierships. Statistically such a run of success is so unlikely as to be beyond computation and yet there it is in the record books, McDowell, McIlroy and Clarke. Go figure.
Equally implausible is that four of those six major winners are managed by Chubby Chandler, whose rotund figure hugging the winner behind the 18th green is becoming as familiar a sight as the R&As chief executive, Peter Dawson, trying to suggest that the policy of taking the championship to clubs that discriminate against women is acceptable. Chubby saw one of his stable, Lois Oosthuizen, relinquish the claret jug only to pass it on to one of his longest-serving clients. And Chandler’s company, ISM, now holds three of the four major titles. If you’re a believer in fate you might want to rush to the bookies to get a bet on another of his clients – Lee Westwood, Ernie Els or Simon Dyson, perhaps – to capture next month’s US PGA and therefore give Chubby his own grand slam of management.
A few other Open thoughts
Royal St George’s is probably, alongside Carnoustie, the toughest Open venue. Unlike Carnoustie, it has a lot of blind shots and hidden bunkers, and the severe undulations of the fairways means that good shots can be punished more severely than at any of the other Open layouts.
It was always too much to expect that, after his triumph at Congressional and a month away from the game that Rory McIlroy would be a serious contender. Tiger Woods’ record has made us all forget how difficult it is to win one, never mind several.
Mark James continues to be the most entertaining and un-PC commentator in the BBC studio. During a discussion of Northern Irish players he said: ‘Perhaps they’ll even stop fighting each other,’ causing Hazel Irvine to offer an almost immediate on-air apology. James’ desire to amuse occasionally gets the better of him but he always enlivens any discussion.
Dustin Johnson enriched the championship considerably but he has now blown his chances in three of the last five majors. At last year’s US Open he was 54-hole leader by three before a last day 82; two months later he grounded his club in a bunker that he thought was an area of waste land at the US PGA, incurring a two-stroke penalty that lost the chance of a playoff and at St George’s he knocked his second shot OB when only two behind with four to play. It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said: ‘What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,’ but what the hell did he know about golf?
Phil Mickelson got all of our blood pumping with a stunning outward nine of 30 that momentarily tied him for the lead. Sadly, having gone out like Superman he came home like Lois Lane.
Jung-Gon Hwang from South Korea had never visited Britain before this week but found himself competing at The Open, where the course and weather conspired to make him the last man in the field after 54 holes, and because there was an uneven number of competitors, he had to play the final round with a marker, Michael Brooks. Hwang shot 79, his marker shot 72.
Andy Sutton, the caddy credited with steering Ben Curtis to his unlikely win at St George’s in 2003, this year carried the bag for Aaron Baddeley, who shot 77, 73 to miss the cut by seven strokes.
For the first time since the world rankings began in April 1986, both of the top-two ranked players – in this instance Luke Donald and Lee Westwood – failed to make the cut in a major.
Quote of the Week
Golf was just what the Scottish character had been searching for, for centuries. Namely, a method of self-torture, disguised as a game. The main tenets of the faith are that life is grim and uncomfortable and that human vanity cannot prevail
Alistair Cooke